“What are you doing here?”
I jump a mile, twisting around to look up, sure I’ll see someone hanging out the window, accusing me of snooping. But the old, thin pane is closed. I sink down again, my heart skittering.
“My uncle told me to come check on the place,” says another male voice, this one slightly muffled, as if it’s coming from across the room.
“Dad?” asks the voice directly above me, a younger one that’s not as deep.
“No, dumbass,” says the older man. “Uncle Julian. Why would your dad call me?”
My mind races to put the pieces together. Uncle Julian must be Julian Sincero, the father of the seven Sinners on campus. Which means the speaker is a Sincero cousin. I shiver and shrink against the wall.
“Why did Julian call you?” asks the younger guy.
“Something about suspicious activity.”
“That’s me,” says the first voice, and though he doesn’t call the other guy a dumbass in return, his tone definitely implies it. “If he’d bothered to look at the hundred security cameras he had me install, he’d know that.”
I gulp down my nerves and scan the area above me for cameras.
“Maybe he did. What are you doing here, anyway? And why are you sitting in the dark like a creep?”
“Security prep for the party.”
“Are you even going to the party? Doesn’t seem like your scene.”
“Are you?” the guy near the window challenges. “Seems just like your scene.”
“True,” the older guy muses. “But I probably shouldn’t fraternize with the students. Then again, this is a college, so they’re all legally adults…”
There’s a sharp clunk, like something being set down on a hard surface. “How the hell did you get into seminary school? You’re the least godly man in existence.”
“Same way you got in here,” says the guy with the deep voice, sounding smug. “They’ll take anyone nowadays.”
“I guess that’s what happens when you’re desperate to stay relevant to the next generation.”
“Are you talking about me or the Catholic Church?”
“Works for either one.”
“Okay, you little shit. I’ll leave you to it. Don’t skulk too hard in the corner if you go to the party. Someone might notice you exist.”
“Oh, people know I exist. Not everyone has to dance half naked on a table to get attention.”
“That happenedonce.Christ. Let it go.”
There’s a quiet snort above me. “Thankfully, I was spared from seeing it with my own eyes more than once, but you forget how many more eyes I have around town.”
After a pause, a deep, rich laugh rolls through the room. “What can I say? I know how to have fun. You should try it sometime,cuz.”
I hear his footsteps retreating, and I squeeze my eyes closed, my heart racing again.
Cuz.Cousin.
That means one of the Sinners is still in the house.
Crap, crap, crap!
I hear the door close, footsteps across the porch, and inside the room, more footsteps and then silence. He must have gone into another room.
